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May 23, 2023

A lab deep underground could hold the key to habitability on Mars

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Tunnels deep underground in North Yorkshire are providing a unique opportunity to study how humans might be able to live and operate on the moon or on Mars.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have launched the Bio-SPHERE project in a unique research facility located 1.1 km below the surface, in one of the deepest mine sites in the UK. The project investigates how scientific and medical operations would take place in the challenging environments of the moon and Mars.

It is the first of a series of new laboratory facilities planned to study how humans might work—and stay healthy—during long space missions, a key requirement for ensuring mission continuity on other planets.

May 23, 2023

ChatGPT is not “true AI.” A computer scientist explains why

Posted by in categories: innovation, robotics/AI

AI is one of humanity’s oldest dreams. It goes back at least to classical Greece and the myth of Hephaestus, blacksmith to the gods, who had the power to bring metal creatures to life. Variations on the theme have appeared in myth and fiction ever since then. But it was only with the invention of the computer in the late 1940s that AI began to seem plausible.

Computers are machines that follow instructions. The programs that we give them are nothing more than finely detailed instructions — recipes that the computer dutifully follows. Your web browser, your email client, and your word processor all boil down to these incredibly detailed lists of instructions. So, if “true AI” is possible — the dream of having computers that are as capable as humans — then it too will amount to such a recipe. All we must do to make AI a reality is find the right recipe. But what might such a recipe look like? And given recent excitement about ChatGPT, GPT-4, and BARD — large language models (LLMs), to give them their proper name — have we now finally found the recipe for true AI?

May 23, 2023

The First Social-Media Babies Are Growing Up—And They’re Horrified

Posted by in category: futurism

How would you feel if millions of people watched your childhood tantrums?

May 23, 2023

What To Know About About Popocatépetl: Mexico’s Volcano Threatening Mass Evacuations

Posted by in category: futurism

Popocatépetl, Mexico’s second-tallest active volcano, has been spewing ash and smoke for weeks, and authorities warn evacuations could follow.

May 23, 2023

The laws of physics have not always been symmetric, which may explain why you exist

Posted by in category: physics

For generations, physicists were sure the laws of physics were perfectly symmetric. Until they weren’t.

Symmetry is a tidy and attractive idea that falls apart in our untidy . Indeed, since the 1960s, some kind of broken symmetry has been required to explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe—why, that is, that any of this exists at all.

But pinning down the source behind this existential symmetry violation, even finding proof of it, has been impossible.

May 23, 2023

Microsoft announces Windows Copilot, an AI “personal assistant” for Windows 11

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Move over, Cortana. Copilot is the new assistant in Windows town.

Microsoft is adding a Copilot AI assistant to Windows 11. Much like the Copilot sidebars we’ve seen in Edge, Office apps, and even GitHub, Windows Copilot will be integrated directly into Windows 11 and available to open and use from the taskbar across all apps and programs.

“Once open, the Windows Copilot side bar stays consistent across your apps, programs, and windows, always available to act as your personal assistant,” explains Panos Panay, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices. “It makes every user a power user, helping you take action, customize your settings, and seamlessly connect across your favorite apps.

Continue reading “Microsoft announces Windows Copilot, an AI ‘personal assistant’ for Windows 11” »

May 23, 2023

Spotify may use AI to make host-read podcast ads that sound like real people

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

With Spotify’s AI DJ, the company trained an AI on a real person’s voice — that of its head of Cultural Partnerships and podcast host, Xavier “X” Jernigan. Now, the streamer may turn that same technology to advertising, it seems. According to statements made by The Ringer founder Bill Simmons, the streaming service is developing AI technology that will be able to use a podcast host’s voice to make host-read ads — without the host actually having to read and record the ad copy.

Simmons made the statements on a recent episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” saying, “There is going to be a way to use my voice for the ads. You have to obviously give the approval for the voice, but it opens up, from an advertising standpoint, all these different great possibilities for you.”

He said these ads could open up new opportunities for podcasters because they could geo-target ads — like tickets for a local event in the listener’s city — or even create ads in different languages, with the host’s permission.

May 23, 2023

Generative AI Is Stoking Medical Malpractice Concerns For Medical Doctors In These Unexpected Ways, Says AI Ethics And AI Law

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, law, robotics/AI

In today’s column, I will be examining how the latest in generative AI is stoking medical malpractice concerns for medical doctors, doing so in perhaps unexpected or surprising ways. We all pretty much realize that medical doctors need to know about medicine, and it turns out that they also need to know about or at least be sufficiently aware of the intertwining of AI and the law during their illustrious medical careers.

Here’s why.


Is generative AI a blessing or a curse when it comes to medical doctors and the role of medical malpractice lawsuits.

Continue reading “Generative AI Is Stoking Medical Malpractice Concerns For Medical Doctors In These Unexpected Ways, Says AI Ethics And AI Law” »

May 23, 2023

Food delivery by drone is just part of daily life in Shenzhen

Posted by in categories: drones, food

The Chinese delivery giant Meituan flies drones between skyscrapers to kiosks around the city. I went to see how it works.

My iced tea arrived from the sky.

May 23, 2023

Meta’s new AI models can recognize and produce speech for more than 1,000 languages

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, virtual reality

They could help lead to speech apps for many more languages than exist now.

Meta has built AI models that can recognize and produce speech for more than 1,000 languages—a tenfold increase on what’s currently available. It’s a significant step toward preserving languages that are at risk of disappearing, the company says.

Meta is releasing its models to the public via the code hosting service GitHub. It claims that making them open source will help developers working in different languages to build new speech applications—like messaging services that understand everyone, or virtual-reality systems that can be used in any language.